Since June, 1864, General Grant had been extending the Union siege lines southwest of Petersburg and north of Richmond. That had stretched the Confederate forces to the breaking point.

In January, 1865 the Union had captured Wilmington, North Carolina and closed the last major Confederate port. That cut off more of the few supplies that were still making it around the Union siege lines.

Robert E. Lee realized the Union siege of Petersburg and Richmond was about to result in the capture of both cities and his army.

He decided to launch an attack on the eastern end of the Union lines at Petersburg to open a gap for a break out to the south.

On the morning of March 25, Lee’s forces attacked and captured Fort Stedman.

Union forces, including the 20th Michigan Infantry Regiment immediately counterattacked, closed the gap in their lines and recaptured Fort Stedman.

Sidney King’s mid-20th century painting of the March 25, 1865 Union counterattack at Fort Stedman.

The 20th Michigan would be at the edge on the lower right.

Public domain image from the National Park Service.

The 20th Michigan suffered five wounded.

The Confederate escape route to the south was now blocked and Confederate resistance to the Union siege was on the verge of collapse.

150 years ago Anson Croman and the 20th Michigan Infantry Regiment continued to serve in the Siege of Petersburg Virginia, south of Richmond.

By August, 1864 they could only muster about 85 men for duty. When the 20th Michigan began service in July, 1862 it had 1012 enlisted men and officers.

After the defeats in June and July, 1864, General Grant ceased frontal assaults on the Confederate defenses of Petersburg.

Instead he sought ways to cut off the railroads supplying Richmond and Petersburg and force the Confederates to extend their lines to the breaking point.

The IX Corps with the 20th Michigan were part of that campaign including:

August 19 to 21: The Weldon Railroad south of Petersburg connected the besieged Confederates with their last major port of Wilmington, North Carolina.

After a series of battles, the Union captured a section of the Weldon Railroad.

That forced the Confederates to extend their trenches, unload their supply trains further south, and haul supplies by wagon using a longer route to the west.

Globe Tavern on the Weldon Railroad Battlefield.

Public domain photo from the Library of Congress.

August 25 During the Battle of Ream’s Station, the 20th acted as rear guard for the II Corps.

August 26 until September 30: The 20th was among the units that constructed fortifications to hold the captured sections of the Weldon Railroad southwest of Petersburg.

September 30: Battle of Poplar Springs, Church, Virginia. Captain Blood and Adjutant Siebert of the 20th Michigan were among the fatal casualties.

October 2: Skirmish at Pegram Farm.

October 8: Reconnaissance in force on the Boydton Plank Road.

October 27 and 28: Battle of Hatcher’s Run, Va.

During this period Col. Cutcheon was promoted to command of the 27th Michigan and Major C. B. Grant became commander of the 20th. Col. Cutcheon’s history is among the sources used to tell Anson Croman’s story.

November Presidential Election: Results from the 20th Michigan: 153 for Lincoln and 35 for McClellan.

The number of troops who voted (188) is higher than the number of men available for duty as it probably includes soldiers convalescing from wounds and disease.

About November 30: The 20th Michigan was transferred to Battery Nine on the extreme right of the Army of the Potomac along the Appomattox River.

By June 12, 1864 the Confederates stopped the Union forces outside of Petersburg, Virginia. The Union ceased assaulting Petersburg and switched to a siege.

In an attempt to break into Petersburg, IXth Corps Union troops with coal mining experience dug a tunnel to place a mine under Confederate fortifications just east of Petersburg.

One hundred fifty years ago on July 30, 1864 the mine was exploded and Union troops assaulted Confederate positions. Among them was our Civil War ancestor Anson Croman in the 20th Michigan Infantry Regiment.

20th Michigan’s position (ORANGE CIRCLE) and direction of the attack to the west of the crater from the mine explosion.

The opening scenes of the novel and movie Cold Mountain depict the Battle of the Crater

Racial War

During the Battle of the Crater when African-American Union troops attempted to surrender, the Confederates summarily executed some on the field.

The Confederates considered African-American Union troops to be racially inferior escaped slaves engaged in a slave insurrection and therefore not entitled to be treated as prisoners of war.

Those who were not executed would be sold into slavery.

The Confederates also threatened to try and execute any captured European-American officers who commanded African-American troops. The Confederates claimed those officers were inciting slave rebellion. The Confederates decided not to proceed with trials when the Union threaten retaliation against Southern POW officers.

On May 4, 1864, General Grant began the Overland Campaign which would lead 11 months later to the capture of the Confederate capitol of Richmond and the surrender of the main Confederate army in April, 1865.

However Dwight’s letters give insight into both the routine and the combat experiences that Anson would have shared and reported home to family and friends.

A model for sharing family history artifacts.

While Dwight’s letters may be a historical footnote in the Civil War’s broader context, they are deeply meaningful to families such as ours who have no other way to get such an intimate and personal look at what our ancestor experienced.

For that we are very grateful to Professor McDermott’s sharing.

The same occurred with my late father’s WWII service. If he wrote letters home none have survived. As did Professor McDermott, another family shared with my family a privately published collection of letters from their family member who served in the same battalion but different company as my late father.

What Professor McDermott has done is a model for what other families can do with their historical artifacts especially letters.

Too many are sold to private collectors or simply thrown away. Such items are best donated to historical societies, archives, libraries or museums where they will be available for other families researching their history, especially those such as mine with holes in our family’s records that can only be filled with the help of other families.

In late 1863 at Knoxville, Tennessee Dwight contracted smallpox and remained in a hospital when the 20th Michigan was redeployed to Virginia.

For the rest of the war, Dwight served at Knoxville. After his recovery his duties included growing vegetables for the patients in the hospital. As a farmer, he’d have been skilled at that.

At the end of the war, he was discharged from Nashville and returned to Michigan.

Painting by Greg Harlin of the November 29, 1863 attack showing the 20th Michigan’s position. Greg Harlin based his work on illustrations, photos, original letters and diaries, older paintings, and military diagrams.(Fair use of image from the McClung Museum, University of Tennessee Knoxville.)

Fort Sanders on the northwest corner of Knoxville, Tennessee with the November 29, 1863 position of the 20th Michigan and the direction of the main Confederate attack.(Public domain image.)

In August 1863, after the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi, the 20th Michigan returned to Kentucky.

In October, the 20th Michigan crossed through the Cumberland Gap to eastern Tennessee.

Many people in eastern Tennessee were strongly pro-Union. One of President Lincoln’s priorities was to secure the area and provide them protection from the Confederates.

In September 1863, after the Confederate victory at Chickamauga, Georgia, the main Union army retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Confederates cut them off and placed Chattanooga under siege.

At the same time, a large Confederate force commanded by General James Longstreet moved into eastern Tennessee.

The Union forces, including the 20th Michigan, withdrew to defensive positions in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Aware that Union reinforcements were on their way, the Confederates decided to assault what they hoped was the weakest point of Knoxville’s defenses, Fort Sanders on the far northwest corner of Knoxville.

Before the attack, the Union soldiers soaked the sloped dirt walls of Fort Sanders. After the water froze the icy slope would be even more difficult for the Confederates to scale.

150 years ago on November 29, 1863 the Confederates attacked and failed in their attempt to take Fort Sanders. The 20th Michigan suffered 19 casualties, with two killed, eight wounded, and nine captured.

Drawing illustrates almost the exact position of the 20th Michigan during November 29, 1863 Confederate assault on Fort Sanders, Knoxville, Tennessee.(Public domain image.)

As commander General Grant was responsible for the Union’s July victory at Vicksburg, Mississippi and the November victories at Chattanooga and Knoxville.

President Lincoln recognized that and promoted General Grant to General of the Army of the United States. From that position General Grant applied his winning strategies and tactics to lead the Union armies to victory over the Confederacy eighteen months later.

Left: Sketch of Union General Grant discussing Vicksburg’s surrender with Confederate General Pemberton 150 years ago on July 3, 1863.Right: Surrender discussion site today.Public domain images from the National Park Service.

During the observance of the 150th anniversary of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg the question is again asked: “What if the Confederates had won?”.

Here’s my answer:

The most likely scenario after a Union defeat at Gettysburg is that the Union army retreated intact and in good order to its next planned line of defense at Pipe Creek, Maryland, 12 miles southeast of Gettysburg.

Vicksburg, Mississippi would still surrender on July 4, 1863.

Along with the city and its 30,000 defenders, the Confederacy lost control of the Mississippi River and was split in two. The eastern half was now cut off from desperately needed reinforcements and supplies from the Confederacy west of the Mississippi.

Even with a Confederate victory at Gettysburg, those losses were probably a mortal blow from which the Confederacy could not recover.

President Lincoln would have been used the victory at Vicksburg to offset a defeat at Gettysburg. He would still have held the Union together and kept it in the war until the army in the East recovered and resumed the offensive.

Alternate history “what if” scenarios

Credible alternate history scenarios are best when they are based as much as possible on the historic record.

Less credible are dramatic scenarios that deviate significantly from the historical record. Such a deviation would be a massive Confederate victory at Gettysburg that completely destroys the Union army, winning the battle, the war, and Confederate independence.

My alternative scenario assumes that the Confederates did just slightly better and the Union just slightly worse than both did at the actual battle.

The Union Army prior to Gettysburg: defeat and recovery

Prior to Gettysburg the Union army lost most battles in the East (but not in the West).

The Union’s retreat after its defeat at Second Battle of Manassas in late August, 1862 was its most disordered. The Union army recovered in two weeks. By mid-September it was able to stop the Confederates along Antietam Creek in Maryland. That allowed President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

After suffering a horrible defeat with heavy casualties at Fredericksburg, Virginia in December, 1862, the Union army stayed in place, remained a serious threat, and resumed the offensive five months later at Chancellorsville, Virgina.

After again being defeated at Chancellorsville in May, 1863, the intact Union army withdrew in good order to strong defensive positions that continued to threaten the Confederacy. A few weeks later, when the Union detected the Confederates moving north, they immediately began a pursuit and caught the Confederates at Gettysburg.

The two armies after Gettysburg

A reasonable assumption is that the Confederates would have suffered the same losses to achieve victory as they did in defeat.

Along with losing up to 1/3 of its troops, the Confederates used almost all their ammunition. As they were at the end of a very long and tenuous supply line, restocking their ammunition so they could follow up their Gettysburg victory would have been very difficult.

The 2/3 of the surviving troops, almost all of whom had taken part in at least one day of fighting, were exhausted.

Many of their horses, critical to Civil War battles, had been lost and the survivors exhausted.

The Confederates could continue to feed themselves from what they could seize from the Pennsylvania farmers.

The Confederates ability to replace their Gettysburg losses was made almost impossible by the loss of another 30,000 Confederate troops captured at Vicksburg on July 4.

The Union army would also have lost 1/4 to 1/3 of its troops and a significant number of its horses.

In the historical battle of Gettysburg, the 13,000 troops of the Union Sixth Corps had not been engaged. In my alternate history scenario, the defeated Union army has a similar number of fresh troops to defend the rest of the army while it recovered.

The Union army’s retreat would have shortened its supply lines making it easier for the defeated Union army at Pipe Creek to be quickly resupplied.

The Union’s control of most of the major rivers, now including the Mississippi, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean combined with the best canals and railroads in the U.S. meant that the Union could quickly move troops from Vicksburg to the east.

My alternate history scenario continued

Without quick reinforcement and ammunition resupply, the Confederates would be unable to follow up their victory at Gettysburg.

When word reached the Confederate capitol at Richmond of the disastrous loss of Vicksburg the Confederate government most likely would have recalled its army from Pennsylvania.

On the south bank of Pipe Creek, the Union army would have seen the Confederates withdrawing. The Union army may not have recovered enough from its recent Gettysburg defeat to pursue the Confederates.

In the East President Lincoln has an intact and formidable army that survived a defeat. In the West he has a major victory.

While his job would be easier if he had two victories instead of one, he uses what he has to sustain Union morale, continue the war for almost two more years, and defeat the Confederacy.

Map of the campaign at Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi (Click for larger image.)Regiment symbol north of Vicksburg above “Sherman”: Approximate location of the 20th Michigan from early June to the fall of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863.Regiment symbol north of Jackson: Approximate location of the 20th Michigan during the assault and recapture of Jackson, Mississippi on July 17, 1863.Public domain map from the U.S. Military Academy.

150 years ago on June 4, 1863, Anson Croman and the 20th Michigan were ordered to leave Kentucky and join General Grant at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

On arrival the 20th Michigan was deployed north of Vicksburg under General Sherman’s command. The main Union forces had surrounded Vicksburg. General Sherman’s forces were protecting their flanks from Confederate General Joe Johnston’s forces.

On July 4, the day after the Confederates were defeated at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Vicksburg surrendered.

Immediately afterward the Union army including the 20th Michigan chased General Johnson’s forces and by July 17 recaptured Jackson, Mississippi. After the Confederates retreated the 20th tore up railroads north of Jackson.

The 20th Michigan remained near Vicksburg until August 4 when it returned to Kentucky.

The capture of Vicksburg secured the Mississippi River for the Union and divided the Confederacy in two.

At times the Union victory at Gettysburg overshadows their capture of Vicksburg. While the war continued for almost two more years, the Confederacy never recovered from those two losses. Both were equally decisive in the military defeat of the Confederacy.

Postal Service issues stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of the siege of Vicksburg

If Anson Croman wrote letters home, none have survived. Therefore the best way to preserve and share the story of his service is by sharing the history of his regiment. Records document that Anson Croman was with his regiment from his 1862 enlistment until the Confederate surrender at Appomatox, Virginia in 1865.

The Musbachs and Robinsons are direct line descendents of Anson Croman and is my 2nd great-grandfather-in-law.

Page one of the Emancipation Proclamation from the National Archives and Records Administration.

Union soldiers held a variety of opinions the abolition of slavery. Union soldiers from slave states probably hoped to restore the Union without the abolition of slavery.

However, Union soldiers from free states such as my ancestor-in-law Anson Croman from Michigan were probably unanimous in their opposition to slavery. They did not appreciate their free labor competing with slave labor.

In recognition of the 150th anniversary, Rutgers University Professor Louis P. Masur reported on the status of slavery today:

In the United States, thousands are held against their will; minors, especially, are the victims of ruthless exploitation. While other countries are worse offenders, the United States, according to State Department reports, serves as both a source and a destination for the trafficking of children.

Slavery Footprint asks on its Web site, “How many slaves work for you?” A survey poses a series of seemingly innocuous…Upon completion, a number is revealed: (Professor Masur) discovered that 60 slaves work for him.

The survey suggested at least 48 slaves work for me

Professor Masur suggests:

One way to reduce our complicity and attack human trafficking is to participate in Made in a Free World, a platform started by Slavery Footprint to show companies how to eliminate forced labor from their supply chains.

Working to abolish all forms of slavery worldwide may be one of the best ways to honor the service of our Civil War ancestors.

Union soldiers held a variety of opinions about the future of slavery, civil rights for African-Americans, and the equality of all people.

However, they may have been near unanimous about one issue.

Once a state entered the union, they could not leave.

Allowing secession because the losing side in a presidential election was dissatisfied with the results would end one of the world’s only republican democracies at that time.

The Constitution provides for elections for Federal offices every two years. Both 150 years ago and today the constitutional remedy is not secession but working to do better in the next election.

Anson Croman was probably very proud that his service in the Civil War settled the secession issue for as long as our nation exists. He would have no use for the modern Texas secession movement.

The Texas secession movement disrespects:

The history of Texas

Sam Houston, a founder of the independent Republic of Texas and governor of the state of Texas in 1861 was removed from office for opposing Texas’s secession. After leading Texas to independence from Mexico, Sam Houston’s next goal was Texas’s admission to the union. He succeeded in 1845 and was brokenhearted when some Texans renounced his dream 15 years later.

Their fellow Texans

The 3,294,440 Texans who voted for President Obama probably have no interest in leaving the union.

Texas does not have a positive history of protecting the civil rights of all of its citizens. Those who have benefited from Federal civil rights enforcement have no interest in secession.

In 1860 and 1861 Texas and the Confederacy paid a very high price for ignoring the anti-secession and pro-union sentiments of a significant number of their citizens. Among the 100,000 European-American southerners who served in the Union military, 2,100 were Texans. The modern Texas secession movement may be repeating the same mistake.

Texas splitting in five states

Along with secession, some Texans are promoting the idea that Texas has the right to unilaterally split into five states.

Under the Constitution, Texas has the same right as does every other state to negotiate with Congress to split into two or more states.

Ironically, the one precedent is from the pro-union anti-secession Virginians who in 1863 were allowed by Congress to split from Virginia to form the new state of West Virginia.

Probably a majority of people in the Appalachians from West Virginia, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and northern Alabama were anti-secession. Regardless of their feelings on slavery and civil rights, they did not want to leave the union.

How the Texas secession movement helps the Democrats

If those involved in the Texas secession movement vote, they’d most likely vote for Republicans and probably never for Democrats.

Since secession is unconstitutional, the secession movement is an irrelevant waste of time and distraction with no chance of success.

Eventually many of those involved will become angry, bitter, hopeless, and marginalized. They may withdraw from the political process and cease voting.

As the Texas secession movement may ultimately be discouraging potential Republican voters from voting, it is actually in the best interests of the Democrats.